Quotes from Linda Sue Park

I am happy to meet you, Nya," he said. "My name is Salva.

Every story has another story inside, but you don't usually get to read the inside one. It's deleted or torn up or maybe filed away before the story becomes a book ...

upon row of books, most of them bound in leather, reached to the ceiling several stories over their heads, illuminated by the faint glow of autumn sunlight through the marble. It was truly striking.

Women," Nellie answered. "Women kicking butt all over the place.

Girls. The oldest mystery in the universe.

So sad," Victor said, "the things people will do to each other." Dan sat back against the seat cushion and let out a sharp breath.

Things that you can't go buy another one, that's what you gotta save.

Nya sat outside in the shade of the house and ate.

Salva had been in Rochester for more than six years now. He was going to college and had decided to study business. He had a vague idea that he would like to return to Sudan someday, to help the people who lived there.

Okay," Nellie said, "whatcha got?" Dan's expression was pure smugness. "I want you to beg," he said.

No!" Nellie said fiercely. "I got into it because of the money. But now --

Meet Madeleine Cahill," he said. "Founder of the Madrigal line.

I have been authorized to tell you both, Amy and Dan, that you have been granted active Madrigal status." He paused. "I might add, you are by far the youngest candidates ever to have achieved this… And... Miss Gomez? Welcome to the Madrigals.

I can't go to another country, Salva thought. If I do, my family will never find me.

I can't go to another country, Salva thought. If I do, my family will never find me. . . . Marial put his arm around Salva's shoulders. He seemed to know what Salva was thinking, for he said, "It doesn't matter. Don't you know that if we keep walking east, we'll go all the way around the world and come right back here to Sudan? That's when we'll find our families!

Think carefully first, and then act boldly.

People are a wonder. They will always surprise you, for both good and ill.

Maybe kindness can get to be a habit for a person. Like a lot of other things.

It's not hard to care about people who are like you...Your own family, and people like them. But...we have to always make the extra effort with people who aren't like us. To care about them and listen to them, especially if they'e different from us. Because that's one of the things that makes us human. It's something we can do that other animals can't.

That's one of Patrick's favorite theories. He read somewhere that people remember stuff better if they read or think about it right before they fall asleep.

I always thought it was a shame . . . that we didn't keep those things safe somehow.

But [Patrick's] character is partly based on a boy named Mark who lived across the street from me when I was growing up ... I liked hanging out with him and was sad when he moved away after only a year in the neighborhood. I guess writing about Patrick is a way for me to spend more time with Mark.

Sometimes the other guys teased [Patrick] about having a girl friend, but it didn't seem to bother him. It didn't bother me, either. If those guys couldn't tell the difference between a friend and a girlfriend—well, that made them too dense to be worth worrying about.

I don't feel like playing anymore—all because of that stupid announcement. "Express your gratitude," they'd said. What they take: our rice, our language, our names. What they give: little rubber balls. I can't feel grateful about such a bad deal.